Lot 462
Cornice
Raumbeispiel
462
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Unterhaltung, 1923.
Watercolor and ink brush over chalk drawing
Stima:
€ 30,000 / $ 32,100 Risultato:
€ 34,290 / $ 36,690 ( commissione inclusa)
Unterhaltung. 1923.
Watercolor and ink brush over chalk drawing.
Upper left and upper center signed. With the estate stamp (Lugt 1570b) and the hand-writtten number "A Da/Bi 10" on the reverse. On firm smooth wove paper. 35 x 47 cm (13.7 x 18.5 in), the full sheet. [CH].
• Figure composition from the Davos period in intensive colors .
• The scene probably shows E. L. Kirchner, his partner Erna Schilling and a guest, probably the art critic Gustav Schiefler, who visited the artist in Davos in June 1923.
• In the year the watercolor was created, the couple lived in the house “In den Lärchen” until the fall of 1923, before moving into the “Wildbodenhaus” in winter.
• Total work of art: In the watercolor, Kirchner shows some of the furniture he carved himself, including a bench backrest with mother and child figures, completed in the year this watercolor was created (cf. catalogue raisonné Henze 193/02).
• The bench can also be found in the painting "Coffee Table" (Gordon 754, Folkwang Museum, Essen), which is closely related to this watercolor in terms of motif and color, from the same year.
The work is registered in the Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Archive, Wichtrach/Bern.
PROVENANCE: Artist's estate (Davos 1938, Kunstmuseum Basel 1946).
Galerie Elfriede Wirnitzer, Baden-Baden.
Private collection Northern Germany.
Private collection Switzerland (acquired fromt he above in 2006, Villa Grisebach auctions, May 26, 2006, lot no. 43).
Private collection Northern Germany (acquired from the above).
LITERATURE: Auktionshaus Weinmüller, Munich, 97th auction, catalog 105, Moderne Kunst, November 5, 1965, lot no. 140 (illu., plate 62).
Villa Grisebach Auktionen, Berlin, 134th auction, Selected Works, May 26, 2006, lot no. 43 (color illu., p. 74).
Watercolor and ink brush over chalk drawing.
Upper left and upper center signed. With the estate stamp (Lugt 1570b) and the hand-writtten number "A Da/Bi 10" on the reverse. On firm smooth wove paper. 35 x 47 cm (13.7 x 18.5 in), the full sheet. [CH].
• Figure composition from the Davos period in intensive colors .
• The scene probably shows E. L. Kirchner, his partner Erna Schilling and a guest, probably the art critic Gustav Schiefler, who visited the artist in Davos in June 1923.
• In the year the watercolor was created, the couple lived in the house “In den Lärchen” until the fall of 1923, before moving into the “Wildbodenhaus” in winter.
• Total work of art: In the watercolor, Kirchner shows some of the furniture he carved himself, including a bench backrest with mother and child figures, completed in the year this watercolor was created (cf. catalogue raisonné Henze 193/02).
• The bench can also be found in the painting "Coffee Table" (Gordon 754, Folkwang Museum, Essen), which is closely related to this watercolor in terms of motif and color, from the same year.
The work is registered in the Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Archive, Wichtrach/Bern.
PROVENANCE: Artist's estate (Davos 1938, Kunstmuseum Basel 1946).
Galerie Elfriede Wirnitzer, Baden-Baden.
Private collection Northern Germany.
Private collection Switzerland (acquired fromt he above in 2006, Villa Grisebach auctions, May 26, 2006, lot no. 43).
Private collection Northern Germany (acquired from the above).
LITERATURE: Auktionshaus Weinmüller, Munich, 97th auction, catalog 105, Moderne Kunst, November 5, 1965, lot no. 140 (illu., plate 62).
Villa Grisebach Auktionen, Berlin, 134th auction, Selected Works, May 26, 2006, lot no. 43 (color illu., p. 74).
After a few longer stays in Davos, E. L. Kirchner and his partner Erna Schilling finally moved to Switzerland in 1923, the year the work offered here was created. In Davos, he moved into the “Wildbodenhaus” north of the Sertig Valley, where the couple led a simple rustic life with only few amenities. The Alpine landscape, the special, albeit hard life of the local farming families and the bucolic village idyll were important sources of inspiration for Kirchner during these years. With impressive creativity, he worked on prints, drawings, watercolors, paintings and even wooden sculptures and furniture for his home in the "Wildbodenhaus". Like some of his likeminded artist friends, Kirchner wanted to live a life that had little to do with that of the established bourgeois. He and Erna furnished the simple house in Switzerland with exotic furniture, some of which he designed and made himself with elaborate carvings inspired by African and Swiss folk art.
On one of these pieces of furniture, a chair carved by Kirchner, an older gentleman in a blue suit sits in a casual, comfortable pose. This could well be the art patron and critic Gustav Schiefler (1857-1935), who had visited Kirchner a few months before our work was created. Schiefler and Kirchner had an intensive correspondence, as Schiefler was working on a catalogue raisonné of E. L. Kirchner's graphic works during these months. The first volume was published in 1926. The chair is most likely "Stuhl III" from 1920 (Wolfgang Henze, catalogue raisonné of sculptures, 1920/05), which Kirchner adorned with a female nude on the backrest. In the picture’s right we see the back of a red-painted pine bench, which had a carved female nude and two small children. Kirchner had only completed the bench shortly before our work was created (Henze, 1923/02).
The present work impressively illustrates the artist's creative power during these years: The watercolor, dynamically brought to paper in strong, expressive colors, not only shows a sociable, possibly evening scene in the "Wildbodenhaus" that he had just moved into, but also stages Kirchner’s elaborate seating furniture, of which only a few pieces have survived. [CH]
On one of these pieces of furniture, a chair carved by Kirchner, an older gentleman in a blue suit sits in a casual, comfortable pose. This could well be the art patron and critic Gustav Schiefler (1857-1935), who had visited Kirchner a few months before our work was created. Schiefler and Kirchner had an intensive correspondence, as Schiefler was working on a catalogue raisonné of E. L. Kirchner's graphic works during these months. The first volume was published in 1926. The chair is most likely "Stuhl III" from 1920 (Wolfgang Henze, catalogue raisonné of sculptures, 1920/05), which Kirchner adorned with a female nude on the backrest. In the picture’s right we see the back of a red-painted pine bench, which had a carved female nude and two small children. Kirchner had only completed the bench shortly before our work was created (Henze, 1923/02).
The present work impressively illustrates the artist's creative power during these years: The watercolor, dynamically brought to paper in strong, expressive colors, not only shows a sociable, possibly evening scene in the "Wildbodenhaus" that he had just moved into, but also stages Kirchner’s elaborate seating furniture, of which only a few pieces have survived. [CH]
462
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Unterhaltung, 1923.
Watercolor and ink brush over chalk drawing
Stima:
€ 30,000 / $ 32,100 Risultato:
€ 34,290 / $ 36,690 ( commissione inclusa)